2007 SEASON OUTLOOK
by Head Coach Tim Mackin

After winning six straight NWAACC Championships, the Lady Devil’s failed to win their seventh in 2005. However, last year’s squad was determined to bring our program back to championship form as they came out with a vengeance in 2006. Not only did they win our eighth Championship, they demolished all five tournament opponents in the process. Even more of an amazing feat was that they won each game in five innings via the 8 run mercy rule. The Lady Devils beat their archrival Clackamas in the semis by plating 22 runs in 5 innings. The momentum continued to roll as LCC again faced Clackamas and beat them 9-1 in five innings to capture to NWAACC title.

So where do you go from here? Well, we just went out and recruited some top-notch players for the upcoming season. Let’s start with the pitchers:

PITCHERS

Our only returning hurler from last year is sophomore Jessica Hudson, from WF West High School in Chehalis. Jess saw limited time on the mound last year as a freshman because of the two dominating sophomore pitchers; Ruth Anderson and Keri Gesner. Jess has worked very hard in the off-season and will be a big part of this year’s team.

One of two freshmen coming to us this year is a local player from Kelso High School, Carri O’Neil. In 2006, Carri went undefeated during her high school campaign and was a very dominant force in the 3A GSHL. We credit her success from taking pitching lessons from fellow former Kelso pitcher, K’Sandra Sims-Mackin, who continued her career as a standout pitcher at LCC where she compiled a record of 26-0 in 2002. We look forward to her adding those high standards that K’Sandra showed.

For the second incoming freshmen pitcher we went up I-5 to Everett to find, Kaitlyn Kennedy, from Arch Bishop Murphy High School. She is a hard throwing right-hander who will complement both Carrie and Jess. Kaitlyn has shown to be a real workhorse.

DEFENSE

It’s really hard to come up with a better defense then we had last year, but I think we found some outstanding replacements. We’ll start with third baseman, Hayley Ridout from Montesano HS. We feel Hayley will be one of the best we’ve ever had at this position. She has the best gloves I’ve seen in a long time with a rifle arm to go with it. We also believe that she will also be one of our top hitters.

We have two players fighting for the starting shortstop position. The first is Kendall Leslie, a teammate of Hayley’s, from Montesano HS. She is a converted catcher from her high school team that played short on her summer teams. Her athleticism and great range will give her an opportunity to get a number of plate appearances. We also see her as one of our top hitters who will provide some pop.

The second shortstop is another local player from Kelso HS, Ashlea Strode. Ashlea has that LCC power bat, so we will need to find her a spot somewhere in the line-up. If she isn’t playing short, she’ll log some innings playing the outfield.

Stina Rock is another Montesano girl who will play first base. She played short and outfield during her HS days, but she has no fear of the ball and a great set of hands so we moved her to first. She is a switch hitter who has right handed power, but being able to bat lefty will be an advantage to her. Stina was also the Washington State Power Lifting Champion in HS.

Our next infielder was an All-State softball player from Toutle Lake HS; Jessi Hanna. She is by far one of the best players to come out of SW Washington, not only in softball but also basketball. She is currently playing for the Lady Devil’s basketball team. Jessi will play second base for us and again could be and should be the best we have ever had at that position. With Jessi’s great hands and speed, she’ll find herself as our lead off hitter and we are anticipating as many steals in softball as she is doing on the basketball team.

Ronica Brekke, is also a second base standout from Kelso HS who will be moving around the infield because of her ability to play a variety of positions. It is always nice to have someone who can play numerous positions like Ronica because it allows us to different things as a coaching staff. She will be a great asset for the Lady Devil’s.

Now, the backbone of any team, are the catchers. We think we have a very talented group that includes a starting sophomore, Janelle Marquette, from Cle Elum HS who shared time every other game last year with Anna Whiteman. The other catcher is Ashlee Gieseke from Winlock High School. Even though Winlock is a small school up north, Ashley is no small school player. She set every hitting record in HS and has the potential of being one of the top home run hitters LCC has ever had. And that is saying a lot coming from the Head Coach.

Ashlee Logan out of Mossyrock will also be sharing the catcher’s position as she is another small school player with a big time game! She is big and strong and we have high hopes on her ability on hitting a lot of bombs!

This year’s outfield is one of the only spots this year where we have two girls returning. Co- Captain, Brittany Warren, was a Mark Morris grad and is our number four hitter. Last year she excelled in a Lady Devil uniform by hitting 15 home runs. This year we look forward to her adding to those numbers. Brittany has already signed a letter of intent to play at Oregon’s Institute of Technology next year in Klamath Falls, Oregon and we know she’ll be a great asset for them. She’ll be joining one of our 2006 alumni standout pitchers, Keri Gesner.

Next, is a strong outfielder from Willipa Valley HS; Tiffany Coates. Tiff is a very strong player, with a gun for an arm and is capable of hitting the long ball!

Last, but definitely not least, is our returning center fielder, who was First-Team All League and NFCA All American; Courtney Mathews, from Castle Rock HS. Court will be a stable part of this year’s team and is one of our team captains. She led the team last year in almost every offensive category and we look forward to her repeating those same accomplishments. Courtney and Brittney have the leadership ability to lead this year’s Lady Devils team to another Championship season.

Hope to see you all at our home games over at Tam O’Shanter Park in Kelso, WA. The season opener is on the road at Olympic Saturday, March, 10th in Bremerton. The first home game is Tuesday, April 3rd against Mount Hood CC.

Coach Mackin will again be assisted by pitching coach Dani Terry and first base coach Brent Harris.